spending time with poetry

this week, the community formed at Poetry Thursday is leaving links to their thursday poetry posts at delia's blog...go visit her to find out next week's prompt and who will be hosting the next week of, in her words, the traveling poetry show. love that. at some point tomorrow (thursday), i plan to share some more personal thoughts about what's happening (a bit more than what i shared on the most recent post at poetry thursday) and why the community is going to "jump from blog to blog" for the next couple of weeks.

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september 5, a moment tucked in bed with the words of sharon olds.

to read the words of sharon olds in her collection of poetry in the book "the gold cell" is to repeatedly breathe in the knowledge that my story, although it is my story, is a story, a song, a path that is known by others.

feelings long pushed deeply into a little pocket inside me burst out of me each time i visit with this poet.

but i come back often because i am face to face with the knowledge that to examine the bits in the internal pocket is to examine the quietest, most truthful pieces of me. it is a raw, breath-catching experience that somehow makes me feel more whole instead of sad.

the gift of poetry.

(tonight's experience was with the poem "late poem to my father," which you can find here if you scroll down a bit)

still seeking the sacred

august 31, the organizing continues...

september 1, a moment with millie during the football game while jonny puts together the ikea "stuff"

september 3, loving those flowers at the market and connecting with friends (and taking a break from all that shedding of the clutter)

just feel.

the view from my bug, august 29

i am feeling sad this evening, but earlier today, i got out and enjoyed the sunshine on my drive to and from teaching yoga (i was subbing at a senior center - love teaching seniors!). the bright blue sky and some song i now don't remember playing as i sang along as i drove along the water and through a couple of neighborhoods i don't usually visit. i felt light and very happy.

although i don't feel that way tonight, i know that this is how it goes. and that is okay. no need to panic.

just feel.

the ups and the downs.

looking for peace among patterns

my sacred life, august 27

attempting to let go of some of the old patterns, the samscaras, of my life. examining them daily - this is who i am - and sometimes it is tiring. but, then there are the moments when i can step outside myself to realize i can stop examining and simply loosen the grip a bit and move on. let go. let something greater than me take over holding tightly for a while. realize that maybe holding on too tightly has created this groove that could become impossible to stop tracing. i do not have to hold it all up. i can take a breath. i can take a breath and allow peace to fill the maze of trenches the patterns (the ones i must let go) have created. i can (let peace in).

looking for a shift by rearranging and letting go of some of the physical things in my (our) space. looking for closeness and warmth and rooms that feel more like nests and less like storage spaces. letting go of the stuff that held significance once and now just collects dust. sending it on to be loved by someone else. looking for more peace in less clutter, more peace (between us).

being honest about what i need. what. i. need. being honest with myself first. being. honest. with. myself. (first)

letting go (trying to let go) of the invisible piles (of guilt).

finding peace in this new corner of my home where my favorite chair, my first big purchase just for me years ago, now resides. we were going to give it away, but simply rearranging has created the perfect space. it is my new corner to work and nap and read and curl up with a favorite plaid blanket. it is another little space in my home; my home: the place i spend most of my hours. it is another space where i can seek and find peace (within).

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see more self-portraits on the theme patterns here
visit more folks participating in my sacred life here

begin (why am i waiting)

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

- Father Alfred D'Souza